2025 Education Workers Steering Committee Chairperson Report
Last summer, we were very happy to hear from then Minister of Education, Jeremy Cockrill that he was willing to meet with us in Yorkton. Teresa Hitchings (vice chair), Trevor Auchstaetter (member at large), myself, our national rep, Jan Goy and political action rep, Tria Donaldson attended the meeting. We used this opportunity to describe the EWSC, its purpose, who we represent, the vital roles we provide in our public schools and the pride we feel in doing our jobs to improve the educational experience for this province’s children. We explained that education support workers play a crucial role in the daily operations of our schools. Our members work hard to ensure that students have a safe, supportive, and enriching environment in which to learn. Our insights and experiences are invaluable in shaping policies that directly impact the effectiveness of our education system. We stated that as we move forward, it is imperative that we address the challenges faced by education support workers – our working conditions (broken funding formula, violence, being asked to do more with less, etc.) wages and the lack of respect that we face daily in many schools and divisions. We asked that education support workers have a seat at the table for future discussions around class size and composition, and violence in the workplace. There was a willingness to continue in discussions and deepen the understanding the minister has of our experiences. Minister Cockrill stated he saw no reason to exclude us from these discussions.
In early fall, we hosted an EWSC All Presidents meeting where we voted on the name for our campaign, talked about the importance of meeting our neighboring locals’ executives and to look at starting to compare language and other items related to coordinated bargaining, as well as common CBA end dates. We had just received the final copy of the Violence Report, “Beyond the Breaking Point-Violence Against Saskatchewan Education Sector Workers”. I had the opportunity to do some media related to abysmal state of education in this province, as well as the extreme violence many staff are facing. We also discussed how to apply to National for cost shares to assist in covering costs related to any coordinated bargaining activities and member and community engagement. Following the meeting we held a rally in downtown Saskatoon. While we were disappointed in the turn out from our CUPE Education Support Workers, we were very happy to have lots of media, area teachers and community members join us! The rally, in conjunction with the release of the survey resulted in lots of media reports on the issues we are all facing.
This fall saw provincial government and school board trustee elections. Many of our education CUPE members and locals became active in their own ridings, helping to campaign, knocking on doors, making phone calls or assisting in fundraising efforts. For the school board trustee elections some locals did a question-and-answer pamphlet, some locals endorsed labour friendly candidates, some locals held a debate for candidates and some members campaigned for individual candidates this work resulted in an increase in NDP seats and in many cases much more labour friendly trustees.
Immediately following the election, we contacted the new Minister of Education, Everett Hindley and the new SSBA board with letters of introduction. We heard fairly quickly from the SSBA, they had their annual convention later than usual, due to the election. As a partner in education, I was asked to send greetings to be included in the delegate handbooks.
In early January, we found out that many Alberta education locals took strike votes and were heading to the picket lines. The EWSC created posters that were sent to local executives to print off and then take photos to show support and solidarity with our fellow education workers.
In late January, Carole Anne Wilson (secretary-treasurer), Jan Goy (national rep) and I attended a SSBA meeting. We introduced the EWSC to them, explained who we are, what we do and who we represent. The SSBA emphatically stated they are against any kind of provincial bargaining for their school support staff, I stated, “well, we won’t stop trying”. We had a very fruitful discussion about this government relying so heavily of Jordan’s Principle funding and they were very impressed with our vast knowledge of this program. We also told them that staff retention and recruitment is a grave concern as people are choosing to stay away given the low wages, violence and poor working conditions. The trustees around the table expressed that they are hearing these same concerns from their division leaders, although maybe not for the same reasons. They have committed to ongoing discussions and meetings with the EWSC.
I attended Budget Day at the Saskatchewan Legislature on April 19, with union leadership from healthcare and Rep, Tria Donaldson. This proved to be an interesting day; I must admit I was dismayed to see that the government had budgeted less for education than they spent last year – unfortunately, I was not surprised. I took part in many interviews in the media scrum immediately following. While there, I took the opportunity to corner Minister Hindley and introduced myself, told him who I was and that I proudly represent over 7000 school support workers in this province – I pressed him for a commitment to meet with our executive as soon as possible. He asked me to reach out to his team to set something up. I followed up the next day, I emailed and asked for a meeting so we could meet and start to build an educational partnership – his team did reply to say they received my email; I continue to email weekly to remind him that we are eager to meet and that we can provide valuable insight and information to him. As of yet, I have not gotten a meeting confirmation.
We cannot ever forget that while elections only come around every so often, we must remember the importance of campaigning and lobbying at every opportunity to bring much needed changes to the funding model and funding formula set out by the SK Party Government. This government has clearly not received the message that our education system is still in crisis. The fact that they budgeted less for this year than they actually spent last year is telling!
I challenge all members and locals to join our “Strength in Numbers” Campaign. We need to remember the power of the people is stronger than the people in power. The upcoming year will be filled with activities and events to build capacity, solidarity, member and community engagement. We will not be forgotten and pushed away. Every single school support worker deserves a fair wage, decent benefits, going home safe at the end of the day and respect from our employers and this government. It is going to take all of us to make the changes that are desperately needed. We are school support workers – we give it our all and we work hard every single day for the children in this province – we are important and we deserve more than we are getting – we are stronger together and together we will make the needed changes!
In Solidarity,
Karla Sastaunik